Shadow in the Corner
by Takaehiko
Summary: Suechi and Romi found out a while ago that they are spiritually linked from a past life, but how far will they go to save eachother. And what's with the Shadow in the Corner? (R&R) [Finished]
1. Art Fair

Kind of a warning on this: I have never written a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic before, so don't totally bash it. I know that it's not the greatest. Actually, the main point of it was to see on of my friends reactions to it... she's a LITTLE obsessive with one of the characters. So, I might get rid of this after the end, after all.  
  
Anyway, as you probably know, I do NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho, however, I own Romi and Narrin, and my *coughhighlyobsessedhyperactivecough* friend owns Emiko.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --  
  
Romi brushed her sun-light blonde bangs from her eyes and sat back, truly happy for the first time in a long while. And with reason. Things between her and Suechi were going well... alright, not perfectly, but better than before. He at least knew who she really was. And her painting for the art fair was finally finished to her strict standards. Actually, he was picking her up for the art fair in less than an hour.  
  
Time to get ready, she thought happily. She slipped out of her ragged paint clothes and into the warm bath that had just finished filling. Romi let the smell of lavender bubbles sooth her as she reminisced about her neighbor.  
  
In a past life, in a different world, she had been close kin to him. Not as Romi and Suechi, but as Asae and Yoko Kurama. Wolf and fox demon, and an odd pair to find together in any time set. It seemed impossible for them to be closely related, as they were almost total opposites. He was graceful, quick thinking, and powerful. She was swift, protested violence, and planned everything in advance. This combination of personalities made them the best thieves in the realm. In looks, they were slightly better matched, long white hair crowned both their heads, parting around animal ears... but that was the extent of their similarities.  
  
Now, they both inhabited human bodies and had different names. Though, Suechi, rather, Kurama retained some of his ancient power, Romi could find no trace of hers. Though, that wasn't such a bad thing, was it? She decided silently.  
  
It certainly hadn't helped convince Kurama that she was who said she was, though. But she'd had doubts that he was HER soul-sibling, as well. How could her neighbor and long-time friend be her long-lost brother? It was impossible; besides, the boy across the street was redheaded. That, however, seemed not to matter and once he revealed his power she was utterly convinced.  
  
*A slightly younger version of Romi sat on the curb outside her house, depressed despite the beautifully sunny day. She and Suechi had fought again and now he wouldn't speak to her. She kicked a rock absent-mindedly. It's not like it was THAT important, she had thought angrily, but was interrupted by a low growl behind her.*  
  
*Romi whipped around to see Fang, Mad old Mr. E's guard dog. EVIL guard dog. Fang wasn't really the dog's name, and Mr. E wasn't really their grouchy old neighbor's name, but no one offered any other calling for them, and everyone knew who you were talking about when you said 'Mr. E and Fang'.*  
  
*Fang's barred teeth reflected in Romi's frightened eyes. Everyone in the neighborhood knew to get out of the way when Fang came along, but Romi had been caught off guard. She froze, unable to move or cry out for help*  
  
My powers failed then, too, didn't they? The warm water washing over her reminded Romi of what it felt like to call on her demon powers for a good use. It had felt something like this on that day, she thought, but nothing had happened.  
  
*Even as Fang leaned towards her, mouth open, Suechi barreled across the street. The fight that followed was swiftly ended when he called on his demon powers to scare the evil dog away. It had all happened so fast, and yet Romi knew the look in his eyes from somewhere.*  
  
It had taken a while to find out the whole story of their past lives, and had taken an even longer time to convince Suechi that Romi was his sister... of sorts.  
  
She dragged her self out of the water and dressed quickly so as to keep warm. "No wonder," she said aloud, "I was always skeptical of the women he dates. I have an older sister-type interest in his affairs."  
  
It was a good thing that he had a brotherly interest in her, too, or she would have been getting to the art fair that night.  
  
Then the door bell rang.  
  
"Crap! I didn't finish drying my hair!!" Romi cursed and jumped down the hallway, trying to put her sock on and answer the door at the same time.  
  
"ROMI!!! I'm baa-ack!" Pronounced a loud voice as the door burst open.  
  
Romi groaned audibly. "Hi Narrin."  
  
"Don't sound so excited to see me, I've only been gone for ten days!" said Narrin, plopping herself down on the couch and picking up the tray of candies from the coffee table.  
  
"So how was France?" She asked, running a comb through her sopping blonde mess of hair.  
  
"Je n'aime pas l'anglais. Je prefer français, s'il tu plait?" Narrin laughed and flipped her straight brown hair behind her shoulders. "It was okay, the Eiffel tower wasn't all it was cracked up to be... honestly, I don't know how people can get so worked up over a bunch of metal rods. Oh! I met this REALLY cute guy- named Will-"  
  
Romi rolled her eyes, Narrin was always meeting a 'cute guy' who she swore was the only one for her, until the next guy a few weeks later.  
  
"THINK what you will, this is different," she pronounced, prideful, "What're you all dressed up for?"  
  
"Art fair, as if you knew anything about it-" Romi started.  
  
"Wait just a minute! I love the art fair! ALL the hot, smart, intellectual guys flock to these things to meet talented young women," Narrin interrupted.  
  
"I'm getting a ride with Suechi and Emiko, if you really want to tag a long, I can ask." Romi grinned wickedly.  
  
Theatrics were Narrin's strongest area of study, besides men. "What?" She threw her hands out expressively. "I couldn't bare to spend a minute with poor Suechi. He should be spending his time with a girl who appreciates him, like me. Not with that- but I'm totally over him. I have Will now, so I don't need to go to the art fair. Besides, the best art in the world is the stuff you do, and I've seen almost all of it."  
  
A blue car pulled into the driveway. "Well, it's too bad you won't join us, gotta go! Bye!" And Romi whipped out the door. "I'll call you later, Narrin!" 


	2. Phone Call

Romi twined the cord around her fingers. The art fair was over, Romi having spent the entire time looking at art (what you're supposed to do) and avoiding Suechi and Emiko... Who spent their time ducking in hidden corners and deserted hallways. Now she was home, hanging off her bed, feet against the wall, talking on the phone to Narrin.  
  
"-told you! Them being together is totally disgusting. They have NO respect for the normal people who don't want to see such displays. And with no regard to those of us sensitive to not having a partner of the opposite sex to make out with all the time. Honestly! If we wanted to see to people going at each other like starving wolves on a deer, we'd watch movies. That's what they're there for-."  
  
Romi laughed despite herself. Suechi and Emiko weren't really like that. They were considerate of other people's feelings... but they DID like each other a lot.  
  
"Anyway, how was the actual art fair?"  
  
"Alright. There was a really nice guy there, pretty good with watercolors-"  
  
Narrin cut her off, sitting up straighter in her chair at home. "Really? A guy?" It's about time, she thought, silently. "What was he like? Was he cute? Come on girl! Give me all the juicy details!"  
  
"There's nothing to tell."  
  
And there wasn't. She'd talked to this guy named Shoni. Dark hair, dark eyes, nice smile, perfect teeth. A semi-popular and yet not stuck up guy. She just wasn't interested in him. His style of painting was unique, painting watercolor pictures with wire. He'd stopped next to her as she was admiring a photograph near one of his paintings. They'd chatted, exchanged tips and advice with one another and then gone on their separate ways. She'd probably never see him again, anyway.  
  
Narrin sighed, "You need to find somebody, SOMETIME, Romi! Have you EVER liked a guy? I could set you up with this really nice guy I know..."  
  
She continued to list and describe several guys, all of whom Romi had been told about before and she, personally, would rather have her brushes burned than 'go out' with any of them. But Yahei Yamazaki. He was different, the nicest, funiest, most talented person she had ever met. And hot to the max. He could paint, draw, sketch, act, sing, and he was tied with her in friendly competition of the highest GPA in the Junior class. In fact, Romi had signed up to tryout for the spring musical, just to hear him audition.  
  
The trouble was, she was incredibly shy, that being an understatement. Oh, she'd watch him from a distance or glance at him occasionally when he wasn't looking, but she could never meet his eyes.  
  
"Romi? Romi? Are you even there?"  
  
"What? I'm listening." She had been gazing out her window, imagining the way Yahei had been talking about his art, in a way that made you want to listen, but wasn't bragging.  
  
"Yeah, then what did I say?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
Narrin giggled, "It's okay Romi... you're easily distracted. What was it this time? Suechi mowing the lawn without his shirt on again? That would sure distract me."  
  
"At eight o'clock at night?"  
  
"It could happen. But hopefully when it does, I'll be over and we'll have a spotlight and video camera. So what homework did I miss while I was- nevermind, I'll say I didn't know what was due and get an extra few weeks to do it! Oh-! Will just got online! Gotta go!"  
  
"Welcome home, Narrin," she said, even though her friend was already gone.  
  
Romi hung up the phone and sat up straight. She rubbered her sore eyes and stood in front of the full length mirror opposite her door. "I need a hair cut," she said to herself, exasperated. Her hair grew out incredibly fast no matter what she did to it, wanting to stay at the length she'd kept it at when she was a demon. One time when she was littler, she had cut her own hair accidentally. The jagged ends had grown back to their origianl length in under a week.  
  
Old habits die hard, she thought, chuckling.  
  
Something caught her eye. A dark blur behind her, with an unrecognizable shape. She whipped around, throwing herself off balance so that she had to grab the close-by desk chair to stop herself from falling.  
  
She glanced through long locks framing her face. No one stood in the doorway and nothing was close by that would have caused such a blur. No, shadow.  
  
"Uh!" Romi exclaimed at her jumpiness.  
  
Normally, she wouldn't have been frightened by the shadow. And she seemed to be seeing it a lot lately. Especially at night, though now it was happening more frequently, and not just when she looked in the mirror. She couldn't even walk by a shop and glance in the window without seeing the shadow close to her reflection. The glass of picture frames also brought the shadow out, and was a personal annoyance as art was her passion.  
  
So Romi had forced herself to get used to it.  
  
Maybe, she thought, it's time to do some homework. She had neglected to finish her English essay in haste to complete her painting for the art fair- actually, she had neglected to even start it. A two thousand word essay due in... she checked her calendar, three days. She glared at her backpack for a few minutes, hating her class. She just wasn't good at writing! Ask her to draw! Ask her to add, subtract, solve logarithms! Anything but writing.  
  
Romi sighed and began to dig through her jam-packed backpack for the battered yellow folder, sitting at her desk when she retrieved the 'enemy'. Speaking as she typed, "Ro-mi... Han-ari. An Edu-cation-al. Ess-ay. On the... Rights and... Lib-erties of..."  
  
Why was concentrating so hard today? First with Narrin on the phone, now with homework? She was NEVER this distracted. Not even when the shadow came, unbidden. What was so special about today?  
  
Nerviously, she picked up the small, wooden backed hair brush that her mother had given her last Christmas. Her hair was one of her favorite things about herself and the brush had been kind of a joke present, making fun of the fact that she'd spend more on something for her hair than other things. (Painting supplies being the exception, of course.)  
  
The shadow moved in the corner of her eye, edging closer to her from the door. This was the first time she had seen it where it hadn't been a reflection in some sort of glass.  
  
Without turning, she spoke words that flashed through her mind as if she had thought of them herself, "Welcome back, Chiyo." 


	3. Chiyo Returns

'Welcome back, Chiyo'?! Romi had wondered what had popped into her head. The moment she mentioned 'it's' name, the... thing had vanished. Before that incident, she had never cared too much about the shadow. It came and left, never posing a problem. But 'Chiyo' was something she could do an Internet search for.  
  
She had read aloud from a web page, '...The most rambunctious of which was a gaiaku that went by the name of Chiyo. Originally a strong demon, Chiyo became powerful enough to ally herself with the Gods and Goddesses as a minor deity. Fire was her main element, though her aim was on love.'  
  
'She was a romantic, falling in love with one mortal, and making him love her in return, then turning on him. Over the centuries she caused hundreds of men to fall in love with her, toying with their emotions even when they loved her of their own free will.'  
  
'Eventually, she caught the attention of another minor God, Mhasori. He saw her beauty and power as an opportunity. Using his skill with words, he manipulated her into joining his forces against the demon world. Together, they started an organization in the heavens called Akutenshi with their sights on earth, and eventually, the universe and heavens beyond.'  
  
'Their possessed warriors began attacking major cities, abolishing the demon populations to prey, later, upon the weaker humans.-'  
  
Slamming into a quickly opened door shook Romi from her thoughts of the evil spirit. She fell on her butt, her school materials flying every which way.  
  
"Sorry Romi!"  
  
She looked up into Suechi's bright eyes. For a second, a shadow rested right above his shoulder and she felt inexplicable anger towards him. Her vision slowly turned red, first around the edges of his form, then spreading to envelope her entire world. Her head ached feriously, but not as fearcly as her heart. For a moment she was no longer Romi, but someone else, evil and powerfully mad. She wanted to rip, tear, claw at the man before her in anyway she could. Cut him to ribbons, feel his blood on her soft skin. Watch him die and excrutiatingly painful death away from all those dear to him. Anything that would make him feel pain, make him suffer at her hands. Lash out now! Jump! Bite his tender, pale, exposed throat! Feel the mortal blood flow into your mouth! Jump!  
  
"I guess I wasn't looking when I opened that door. Allow me to help you pick up your things?" Her offered her a hand up, and instantly she felt like her self again. Not even a second had passed, though it seemed like an eturnity.  
  
"Sure."  
  
They crawled on their knees around the unhelpful peoples' feet, collecting odd pieces of paper, pens, etc. Why did I react that way? She thought, he apologized and offered to help! AND he's my neighbor and sort-of-brother. What is going on?  
  
"Let me walk you to your next class. You're not hurt, are you?"  
  
She shook him off, assuring him she was fine, and left holding her head in one hand.  
  
Communications, or English as the school insisted on calling it, passed slowly. Romi found in hard to concentrate, her head pounded and she found her thoughts returning always to the mysterious shadow called Chiyo. A casual hand dropped beside her and a folded piece of paper touched her knee. She reached down and took the note from Narrin.  
  
'You don't look so good, girl. Are you sure you're not getting sick or something? I mean, I know that the Prof. can drone on sometimes... and that the glare from his head could cause anyone to get a headache, but seriously, you don't look well. -N'  
  
If her English professor caught her passing notes, he'd give her detention... again. But that didn't discourage her this time. How important could acronyms be for him to 'drone on' for twenty minutes already with no sign of stopping?  
  
In her fastest scrawl she scratched a reply.  
  
'Remember when I told you I was seeing things? It happened again. -R'  
  
Narrin's reply was short.  
  
'Told you you were crazy. -N'  
  
'You're not helping! I think it has something to do with Suechi. It appears when I'm with him or have just seen or talked to him. -R'  
  
'Weird. I'm sure it will go away. Tricks of light. You have been stressed a lot lately, are you sure you aren't over doing it? -N'  
  
'I knew it's name. -R'  
  
'meow? -N'  
  
'Whatever it is, it has a name. I did some research on the internet and found some information about an evil spirit/demon by the same name... any thoughts? -R'  
  
'More l8er, baldy's startin' ta glace o'er here more often. -N'  
  
"Miss Romi, see me after class."  
  
Romi slumped in her chair. Why does he alsways go after me? She thought to her self, just because I don't understand his teaching style and no matter how hard I try, I never improve my grades! Is that a reason to start targeting me!?  
  
After class, she dragged herself to the front of the room, her feet feeling heavier every step of the way. The bell that usually brought her happiness and freedom now signified the inevitable lecture approaching.  
  
"I'm noticing your decreased attention span in my class, but if your thoughts must wander, at least don't drag other students down with you." He readjusted his glasses and continued. "I have notice something missing from your essays. You don't seem to be putting your soul into this class. I know you can do better if you give yourself a chance. That's why I'm offering to give you extra help after school twice a week. Volutary, of course, but I strongly suggest it."  
  
Suechi walked by the window, she barely heard the words being directed at her. A shadow crossed her vision... her breathing came harder as she tried to remain calm.  
  
"I-I have to get home!" Romi brushed past her teacher and ran to the waiting bus, early, she was able to find a quiet seat by herself towards the front of the bus.  
  
Her repressed anger seemed to overcome her. She viewed herself as though she was watching herself through someone else's eyes. Her hair turned black, strand by strand. Her eyes changing from an expressive green to a brilliantly cold blue. Her chest seemed to grow as well. The entire mannor of the way she held herself changed, she was arrogant, self assertive, and angry.  
  
Fear suddenly gripped her as she looked straight into her own eyes. They gazed back at her, secretive, and smiling.  
  
Well, well, she thought swallowing hard, Chiyo has returned.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Quick Guide to stuff that might have been confusing:  
  
Gaiaku= evil influence  
  
Akutenshi= evil angels 


	4. Smoldering Ruins

[A/N: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.. blah. blah. blah... or the Pokemon Theme Song.]

What was with all the weird looks lately? What is Romi so upset about? And why is she so jumpy and distracted? Suechi walked through the park near school. Sparce trees lined the well worn path and the sounds of children playing could be heard dimly over the nature sounds.  
  
Suechi barely noticed when Hiei fell in step with him, he was so deeply intertwined with his own thoughts. It took a moment for him to realize Hiei was speaking. "I'm sorry. What?"  
  
"Well, originally I said 'hi'. Then added that you smell like a dead sheep carcass lying half squashed in the middle of the road..." Hiei braced himself after repeating the insult in mock terror. "Where is your mind today, Kurama?" he probed when his friend's expression did not falter.  
  
"A friend of mine has been acting weird late-."  
  
He was cut off by the unmistakable tones of the Pokemon theme song. Hiei swore and rummaged through his backpack to triumphantly retrieve the battered cell phone emitting the offending tune.  
  
"New ring?" Kurama was barely able to keep himself from bursting out laughing.  
  
"Shut up," the dark haired boy retorted dismissivly as he flicked open the cell phone and brought it up to his ear. "It was Kuwabara and I can't figure out how to fix it... Hello? Speak of the devil! We were just-... Okay. Where?... What?! Why not-?! Shoot! My batteries died!"  
  
"What did Kuwabara say?" From the sound of it, something happened and Hiei wasn't happy about it.  
  
"Only that an extremely dangerous demon- or something is destroying your house and I'm not allowed to tell you because if I do you'll go after it and it is currently trying to find you to kill you." Hiei's voice remained calm, his eyes steady, but his pace quickened in the direction of Kurama's place of dwelling.  
  
"So why'd you tell me?"  
  
Hiei gazed at Kurama with serious eyes, "Because you deserve to know that your mother is there-"  
  
The sentence wasn't even finished before Kurama darted towards home as fast as his demon strength would allow him to go.  
  
"I'm coming, Mom!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------  
  
Chiyo was truly the rambunctious spirit. Content to wait for her prey for only so long before she called it into the open. Romi's pitiful collection of magazines, CDs, manga, etc. failed to occupy her for long. And there were only so many pictures available to burn.  
  
Instinct and heightened senses allowed her to track Kurama's scent to his nearby home. "Perfect."  
  
A few minutes later saw her sorting the contents of his room into piles; to burn now, to rip up, to use to set the house on fire later, to destroy in a new creative way... etc. Chiyo closed her eyes and concentrated on drawing a small ball of fire into her hand, then began torching one picture at a time.  
  
"Oh, what a cute girlfriend," she cooed, then set the picture of Emiko and Kurama on the beach to the flame. "But I like her better this way."  
  
"Romi?!" Came a call from downstairs. "Is that you?"  
  
The door opened and a middle aged woman walked. Kurama's mortal mother. Chiyo forced Romi's face into a smile.  
  
"What are you doing up here? Suechi won't be home for a while yet, he said he'd be late up at school today. Is there anything I can help you with?"  
  
Wind gathered at Chiyo's heels, lifting her a few inches off the ground and whipping her skirt and hair across her body. The lights dimmed, casting longer shadows that reached out like clawing hands.  
  
"Yes," her voice boomed with eerie power, cold and ruthless. "You can serve as bait. I'm sure he'll come for you. Mortals tend to have attachments to the ones that raise them." She laughed merrily.  
  
The chase ensued. Chiyo played with the poor woman's mind, creating shadows that came alive and tore at her skin. Each scream made her smile widen a touch more. How could Kurama NOT come? And if she was forced to kill this inferior mortal woman, would he be enraged enough to put up an amusing fight before she ripped him to shreds? Hopefully. Too many men just went on about how much pain she'd caused them and then died quickly.  
  
"Now, now, play nicely."  
  
The short woman now held a kitchen knife in one trembling hand, it's point catching light and shining menacingly. "I'm done running, if you want to kill me, I won't have died a coward." She lunged, blade flashing.  
  
Chiyo smiled as the knife slid between her lower ribs. Blood stained the knife wielder, not the demi-goddess. "Mortal, fall back. Save yourself from the fate of watching your precious son die a bloody and undignified death."  
  
"Nev...er..." the woman gasped with failing lungs. She pulled the dagger back, hearing the knife grating against bone. Dark wind picked her up and whirled her around, her blood falling to stain the carpet below. Her hair whipped around her face as she watched the familiar stranger with cold eyes. Dulling, clouding over in pain, but cold none the less.  
  
"Hang around for a while. If you died now, what good would you be as a pawn of torture?" Chiyo turned and once again began throwing miniature balls of fire at random objects, almost lazily. She demolished the entire front door and wall on the street side. Hurry up, my insignificant prey, she thought coldly, I've waited so long for this. At that moment a red-topped blur ran down the street towards the smoldering house. "Finally."

Kurama hesitated only when he saw his mother across the threshold of the house, bleeding and suspended in the air by a dark mass of swirling colors.

"Mom!" He ran to her, plucking her from the air and cradling her against his chest.

Her blood seeped into his clothes and covered his hands. Her breath came in short, rasping gasps. "Suechi..." she forced her mouth to form the words. "I... am proud... of y-you." She smiled, then her features relaxed, her form limp as she passed quietly beyond his help and understanding.


	5. Flowers and Sunshine

Authoress: I do not own Yu Yu Hakuso. As all of you should know by now. Nor do I own the character Emiko. She belongs to my friend PenPusherM (Go read all of her stories, they're better than mine anyway!) I do, however own Chiyo and Romi and the plot of their past and how it ties in... blah blah blah. 

A special thanks to Tamora Pierce for inspiring an idea for this chapter. Her books opened new doors and ways of thinking for me, and I owe her a lot of creativity. Nothing here is specifically from her books, but reminds me of them so I cannot claim total originality, even though I did not intend to have the use of fire relate to her books. 

A quick warning, this entry contains a bit more blood, violence, and swearing than the previous chapters.

* * *

Kurama gently lowered his mother's body to the ground, closing her empty, staring eyes. He rose slowly to his feet. Anger and pain radiated from his eyes. His bloodstained hands grasped the knife that had slipped from his mother's fingers. "Romi!" The knife glittered, threatening. 

The spirit in the girl's body sighed, "Yoko Kurama, I am hurt. You may not recognize me, but I know the one that killed my love!" She would kill him in the same manner that he had used on Mhasori. Ah, Mhasori! Her one TRUE lover, the only one who understood her... and the God who had helped her realize her potential powers. Blood for blood! As one scar upon the heart is avenged.

Or would it be?

Yoko Kurama had killed the most important person to her, would not the proper punishment be to kill the one he held most dear to his heart? His pathetic girlfriend! Kurama would have to be killed as well, for he had destroyed her life, but simply murdering his female mortal parent hardly seemed important enough. Chiyo needed the girlfriend to die in front of him, her life's blood draining out of her. But how to call her out?

Kurama was not so tied up in thoughts, the simple white fury that filled him had taken over. His one thought for the moment was to attack while the 'Goddess' seemed to be debating her next move.

Calling on all his reservoirs of strength, he gathered himself for the kill. He charged forward, speed and silence working to his advantage.

Chiyo broke herself from her thoughts as Kurama slammed into the swirling smoke around her. She smiled, ruthless, "Your feeble human strength in no match for the powers of a Goddess!" Fire gathered, once again, at her fingertips- she was gaining strength with each passing moment she spent possessing Romi's body.

Gasping for breath with lungs that would not cooperate, Kurama looked up. His eyes focused in and out. She was blinding to look at. 'If she's from my past, how did she get into the human world?' Kurama thought, sensible after impact with the equivalent of a brick wall. 'And she has to possess a human body to have a physical presence. But, if only her spirit is here, can I destroy her for good?'

At that moment, a person broke through the front door. The fire lit up her red hair and made her perfect complexion glow. She flicked her eyes around, quickly and efficeintly taking in the surroundings.

Kurama's heart was pained and joyful at the same time, Emiko had come to his help, but was in obvious danger. He tried to cry out to her, tell her to leave and seek a safer place, but breathing was still too painful to allow speech.

Emiko rushed to his side. "You're hurt."

She gently pried the knife from his hands and faced her new advisory, wary of the dark cloud around her and the fire ball in her hand.

The Goddess was amused, "You wish to fight me, mortal girl? Very well, and in the end, when your blood stains the ground, I will proceed in killing the demon bastard."

"Bite me, bitch!"

Emiko and Chiyo approached each other. Emiko, cautious of the woman who had knocked the breath out of Kurama and killed his mother in such a bloody and gruesome way, Chiyo, care-free and elated with the excitement of the fallen blood and chance at her revenge. Emiko's knife flashed around the swirls of darkness, nicking her opponent's ankle and drawing blood on the Goddess.

Chiyo glared. "Damn demons!" The fireball moved to float in front of her. With two fingers, she pulled out a strand of it, shaping it into a long cord.

Drawing quick symbols in the air rewarded the Goddess with a flare from the dark clouds. The swirls thickened until she was concealed completely- no holes to dart a knife through were apparent, even to Emiko's immaculate eyes. She tried tentatively to scratch at the barrier with the knife, but to no avail. Desperate, she slammed the knife into the darkness, using some of her demon powers to give her additional strength. The clouds cleared to reveal a fire serpent wrapped around Romi's body. Her eyes fluttered and the fire flickered. Sweat appeared all over Romi's body and she screamed. Her skin was burning without the Goddesses power to control the fire. Chiyo had momentarily lost control!

"Romi! Try to shut her out!" Emiko yelled, concerned. 'For all she's being possessed, she's still just a powerless teenage girl! And Kurama's friend!'

Romi shook her head, "I-I... c-can't... She's... angry!" Blood ran down her arms, legs and face. She was pale, eyes wide with fright and horror.

The girl was beginning to panic, her mental reflexes not enough to hold the evil spirit at bay, Emiko didn't have much time. "You can do it-!"

Romi's next scream was cut off. The calm, calculating look returned to her face, her wounds healed as the fire around her intensified in heat and light. The creature seemed to grow and became anxious, shifting and sliding around her body. She spoke to her creation. "Fly!"

Spines unfolded from the fire-creature's back, empty air in between. It took to the air above Chiyo, looking at Emiko with empty eye sockets. A unnatural roar came as it opened its mouth, exposing fiery teeth and a forked tongue. It dove, picking up speed as it hurtled towards Emiko. She flinched, frozen in her place, uncharacteristically. Her eyes widened as the heat grew near unbearable. The serpent was speeding towards her heart, and coming fast. A split second before impact, she was knocked aside, her heart's place taken by Kurama as he shielded her from the attack that would have ended her life.

The fire-dart disappeared into Kurama's chest and he slumped forward.

"NO!" Emiko clutched the dying demon to her, sobbing with love and hate. Even glaring at the murderess gave her no satisfaction. Chiyo had retreated, leaving Romi to fall to the ground. The energy that had possessed her had been of such a strong type that she was shattered without it, her body lifeless.

Kurama coughed, blood surfacing on his lips a testimony to his heart bursting. He was seeing nothing but darkness closing him off from Emiko. His last image was her face, crying and peering down at him. The last sound in his ears was the wail that issued from the lips of a woman who had lost her true love when she'd come so close to saving him. Kurama knew no more.

* * *

Well, my readers. It pains me and elates me to tell you that this story has reached its end. Please tell me what you think and read my other stories. Oh, I'm sad now! I liked writing this.


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